Question on Plan Notes

[Stewie_]

Hi, Dear All,

First of all, happy new year!

I have a general question on plan notes. My background is bridge design/load rating/rehab.
After 8 years of work, I feel much better now on structural modeling and analysis. However, I still do not feel very comfortable/confident when I have to come up with the plan notes on the structural plan sheets.
I asked senior engineers, and they told me to learn from the go-by plans. And the go-by plans, I should get from the DOT bid files.
My questions are:
1. Is there a general guidance/policy book for the plan notes? How do you come up with the plan notes?
2. If your background is from other fields (building, oil, offshore, industrial structure, and so on), please give some insight on this as well.
3. Similarly, how do you come up with the general notes?

Big Thanks,
Stewie

 

[phamENG]

Most of these notes come from past mistakes.

Plan notes: what information needs to be known about that plan specifically? Elevations, materials, special conditions, etc.

General notes: depends on whether or not you have a spec book. If you have a spec book, they can and should be fairly light. For many jobs, the spec book will probably get lost between the estimator's desk and the superintendent's trailer. So if it's needed to actually build the thing, put it in the general notes. If it's just guidance for a delegated designer or material selection, put it in the specs. Be careful about having it in both places - the one that costs more money is what they'll quote and the one that cost less money is what they'll build.

If you don't have a spec book, everything goes in the notes.

 

[TLHS]

Yeah, in my head notes are for things you actually want done in a specific way. Specs are for things you need in case someone decides to do something stupid and you get into a fight about it.

What counts as reasonable notes is going to vary heavily by location, industry, type of work, type of contractor and everyone's experiences. It's really hard to say what the best set of notes is. Your colleagues are probably right that if you're doing bridge work you should look at what your MoT does and what your company's past projects have done. Don't just copy things, though. Your notes need to help the narrative of the drawings. You use them to explain things in words that aren't great for pictures. Don't be afraid to explain intent or end goals if it's helpful.

Also, the more important an item is, the more specific it should be. If you want general good practice in concrete it's fine to tell them to do install as per ACI standard whatever and leave it at that. If you have a specific design or QA/QC thing you're worried about, don't just point at a standard, point at the standard and then also emphasize the specific thing you want done so they know what's in your head.

Notes are for communicating construction requirements, but they are also project documentation. It's not bad to look at your drawing and assume it's twenty years from now and it's the only document you have from the project. What is the most important stuff that you'd want to know if you had to defend your design or modify it. Write that down.

 

[dik]

For projects, I rely on detailed Project Notes, almost like specs. The reason being that, too often, I've encountered existing work where the drawings are available, but the specs are nowhere to be found. My drawings are 'self-contained' and do not require specs. As noted, they include over 40 years of 'oversights'. Edited and brought up to date for each project or as additional information comes forward. It's nearly a 500K sized text file, and continues to grow.

About a decade back, I worked on a project for a major renovation, and used my project notes. It was the first large project I did for the firm I was with. The department head queried my several sheets of project notes; it was the way I worked. Extremely fortunate, the construction/project manager forgot to include drawing specifications with the tender documents. This could have been a real problem if it weren't for detailed notes.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[Eng16080]

My general notes, which I've been working on revising, are based on:
[ul]
[li]notes used at my previous company[/li]
[li]notes from other structural plan sets that I've come across and studied[/li]
[li]past mistakes, near mistakes, and mistakes by other firms[/li]
[li]code requirements (like where IBC requires certain notes be specified, for example, loading requirements)[/li]
[li]information found on this site[/li]
[/ul]